Top Stories

People Share Their Most Interesting Roommate Experiences

men in black shirt and black shorts at desk and on bed
Ramiro Pianarosa on Unsplash

Roommates are a part of life, and chances are you’ve had a roommate at least once.

Sometimes, your roommate is a family member — perhaps you shared your childhood bedroom with a sibling. Sometimes, it’s a friend. It’s likely you shared a dorm room with a friend in college. And other times, it’s a complete stranger who you only shared a living space with in order to save on rent.

Whatever the case, having a roommate is sure to make for some interesting experiences. Some of these experiences are good, and some are bad, but one thing is for sure: they’re all unforgettable!


Curious about some of these interesting experiences, Redditor chee-koo asked:

"Redditors, what are your most interesting roommate stories?"

Video Game ASMR

"My South Korean roommate in college played StarCraft (2? not sure) welllll into the night. We're talking like I'd be getting up to go to class and he'd be logging off."

"It cured my insomnia. Listening to a game in a language I didn't understand was very soothing, apparently, and I went from taking 3-4 hours a night to fall asleep (if I would at all) to falling asleep within 30 seconds of laying my head down."

– truthinlies

"Are you saying that to cure my years long insomnia all this time what I needed was not melatonin, plants or all the weird sh*t I've tried, but a South Korean online gamer in the next room?"

– blackd0nuts

"It's weird how sometimes you find something that just WORKS."

– Wolfie_Ecstasy

I'm Jealous!

"I’m pretty sure I used to live with a hobbit."

"-Man about 5'1", curly brown hair, constantly cheerful demeanor"

"-Never wore shoes, inside or out"

"-Literally slept on the floor in what can only be explained as a nest of blankets"

"-Started a garden and encouraged me to eat his tomatoes all the time"

"-Would bring home samosas and other goodies, always giving me half just because"

"-He and his wife had a dream of living off the grid in a tiny home on a truck"

"I hope he’s doing well"

– Opposite_Lettuce

"Tall for a hobbit, otherwise checks out!"

– GielM

Poor Little Rich Girl

"My freshman year roommate was an international student from Dubai. She had maids and help all of her life and didn't know how to do a goddamn thing! Once she ate an apple and tossed the core behind her onto our carpet! I told her I'm not her maid to clean up after her!"

– Turbulent-Mind7128

Killing In His Sleep?

"I used to cook dinner and always made enough to offer to our room mate. He paid his bills and rent always but sometimes he didn't have enough for food so I would cook and say "hey man, wanna have dinner with us?". He would usually say he didn't like whatever I was making. Fastforward to morning...all the leftovers were gone."

"His explanation? He must have been sleepwalking and ate it in his sleep. This happened 15 to 20 times over a year period. Minimum. He would make these big song and dances about how what I was making was gross, so I would put up enough leftovers for two (my boyfriend and I) then go to bed. What was to be lunches for work gone and often dirty utensils in the sink."

"Fast forward another 5 years and he called me at 3 am after not talking to me or my partner for 3 years, and told me my now husband (aforementioned BF)was doing Crack in front of our 4 year old. I called my husband, who was asleep. Neither of us had talked to him in years...what was this?"

"Fast forward another 5 years. He's on death row for killing his roommate. His defense? He did it sleepwalking."

– dissapointingsex

These Things Belong In The Trash

"My roommate once create a whole new lifeform by leaving beans in the fridge until they molded so bad they became pure white. Then she got mad when I threw it away because she was going to use it later."

– Shadow948

"Use it for what? Giving people botulism?"

– Bob_12_Pack

"I had a roommate do that with lasagna in a casserole dish. I eventually tossed it after lifting the lid and looking inside. I didn’t want to touch it and I knew she’d never clean it, so I threw the whole thing in the dumpster, dish and all. When she got home and saw it was gone, she told me I might as well throw her lifeless body in the dumpster too, if that’s how little I thought of her. I was like, “I’ll buy you a new casserole dish, damn.”"

"Neither of us did what we’d said we’d do."

– Calexcia

...Huh?

"Senior year of college I lived with 8 other students in a house, girls upstairs and boys downstairs. One time the boys were really rowdy so I went downstairs to check it out and this girl from my literature class was beating in their fridge with a fire extinguisher. I think I’ve lost the ability to be surprised after that year."

– Mirrorflute88

"I don't understand the meaning of "was beating in their fridge". Was she beatboxing? Was she getting beaten up? Was she attacking the fridge?"

"It would be really cool if somebody could help me with that :)"

– umhassy

Laundry Troubles

"My wife had a roommate who's clothes smelled bad all the time. But they would do laundry together, so they knew that she washed her clothes, but they smelled like they weren't."

"Until one day when they were shopping together, and the roommate said that she had to buy laundry detergent, and then picked up some Downey Soft fabric softener. My wife asked her if she was also going to get detergent, and the roommate replied, "I just did.""

"My wife tried to convince her that fabric softener is not soap, and wouldn't clean your clothes, and the roommate was adamant. "This is what I've always used, and it works great." My wife tried to be nice about how it didn't work, and that her clothes didn't smell good after a day (when the Downey scent would wear off), but nothing she said made a difference."

"I hope that when the roommate got married 12 years ago, her husband was able to convince her to use actual detergent for her clothes.""

– WalmartGreder

Middle Of The Night Thoughts

"My freshman year roommate would think way too much when he was trying to fall asleep and wake me up all the time."

"Like, “Hey man, a lot of people find the person they marry in college. What if I never find that person!!”"

"Me: “huh? It’s 2am, dude, I have class at 8.”"

"“Oh sorry to wake you up, go back to sleep”"

"Five minutes later, he wakes me up again “Unless you’re on fire, then that makes sense.”"

– ThinkIGotHacked

Whoops!

"My flatmate was using the speaker in the living room for playing music, he said he was gonna go shower so he left.

2 minutes later we heard moaning and slapping. He forgot to disconnect from the speaker."

– Terrible-Cost-7741

Thw Worst Mom

"(This is gonna be long, because there's a fuckload to tell.)"

"Ah, my last roomie, J. How to explain her... J was an an*l-retentive b*tch for whom things could not be clean enough. She wasn't a germophobe; she was just a controlling c*nt. For example, she had a glass table near the kitchen where she ate all her normal meals. She had a little boy who was 4ish and a girl who was 7ish. They were not allowed to eat meals with their mother because they might get fingerprints on the glass. Instead, they had to eat on a small wooden kiddie table away from her. One day, her son accidentally knocked over his juice, and she full-on screamed at him while he sobbed and tried to mop it up."

"Other sh*t she pulled:"

"- I accidentally left, no joke, one fucking pinpoint of spaghetti sauce in the microwave one night. She banged on my door at midnight on a work day. And when I answered, she grabbed my arm and marched me downstairs and yelled while I cleaned it."

"- I accidentally forgot one day that I was supposed to take the outdoor trash can to the street. On my way back home from work, I found out my brother was dying, so I was sobbing by the time I got home. When I got there, she had placed the trash can so that I could not get into the garage without moving it to the street. And when I got inside, she was waiting for me. She physically blocked the stairs up to my room and just screamed and screamed while I cried and tried to explain that my goddamn brother was dying."

"- Her (very sweet, no idea how she got such great kids) daughter was in Girl Scouts, and J was the troop's cookie mom. She was SCARY about it. One day, she left an envelope of cash from it on the kitchen counter, and there was NO way I was touching that. Tried to tell her it was out there, but got nowhere. Quite a few people came in and out of the house, including a few contractors, and next time she looked, the cash was gone. Of course (/s), it had to have been my fault, so she threatened me with throwing everything I owned on the lawn and changing the locks. So that I had somewhere to sleep, I just paid her the $80, even though that meant a couple weeks of ramen. Guess where it was? Her kiddo took it to his room and was playing with it. And no, I got zero apology."

"- Did I mention she was a nightmare stage mom? Because she was. She forced her shy daughter into doing a made for tv movie, and then ran around watching her toddler son wrecking the whole set while cooing about how "adorable" he was on "HIS movie set.""

"- She'd found photos in a property her family owned where some asshole early paparazzo had hidden there and taken shots of a very famous and well-regarded, inspirational person's private funeral. For some reason, the pics were left in that property. Her immediate decision? If she can't get at least a few hundred k from auctioning them off, ransom them to the family."

"Biggest lesson? When your roommate's family comes over for dinner, and several of them pull you aside to voice concern for you and ask if she's treating you badly, that's when you spend every waking moment from then on finding a new goddamn place to live, even if it's a street corner."

– ChaoticForkingGood

Faking It

"My first roommate as an adult faked ovarian cancer. Just.... How could someone even DO that?"

"When I was looking for a new place, she waited until I took a shower and got into the computer in my room. (That one's partially on me, because I didn't log out of it before I went off.) She found out I was emailing the person who would be my next roommate, noted the email address, and then sent a bullsh*t-laden email to that person trying to get them to kick me out before I ever moved in."

"She was in-f*cking-sane. By the time I left, I'd have been willing to bet everything I owned that she was on meth. Couldn't prove it, but she 100% acted and looked like it."

"Oh, and did I mention that she turned on a goddamn dime one Saturday and told me that my dog, who she'd previously loved, had to be gone by Monday or else she'd kick ME out? All because my poor baby girl had been abused before I had her, and when that woman yelled at the top of her lungs one day, my little girl peed. So, yeah. I had to call rescue organizations and shelters and give my sweet girl up."

"Also - last one, I swear - she invited a homeless couple to live with us for a bit in return for doing some painting. Please note: I have no problem with this. What I DID have a problem with was that she never asked or even told me about it (and I'd have said yes if she had). She just did it. She also told them that they were welcome to keep anything in the third bathroom that they wanted... Which was my goddamn bathroom. Finding out your makeup is all gone and that someone's pubes are on your soap? SO much fun."

– ChaoticForkingGood

Morally Compromised

"In college, my roommate was majoring in criminal justice, and it threw me for a loop when I found out she was in a gang. (Weird combo.)"

"One day, she asked if a friend of hers could stay with us for a little while. Her friend had just been evicted from her first apartment for not being able to pay. She was 8 months pregnant, and it was winter, so I was alright with it."

"Now, this roommate and her friend would sit there and giggle and gossip from when they got in bed until about 2 AM, juuuuust loudly enough that it kept me up."

"One night, I overheard 80% of a whispered convo between them where they talked about how easy it had been to steal some furniture for the pregnant girl's new place. They started talking about how shitty the books in the bookshelves had been and how they were glad there had been room in the dumpster out back for them. They thought I was asleep."

"Our dorm had a "dorm mom" who was a very sweet 80yo lady whose job was to live with us in the good-sized apartment in the dorm for that use and to make sure we were abiding by the (stupid and outdated) rules. She was a total sweetheart. She actually furnished our common room with her own stuff, out of the kindness of her heart. Bookshelves, books, a sofa, and a TV."

"So when I got up the next morning and headed out, and I saw everyone milling around the now-empty common room, my heart sank. Everyone loved our dorm mom. I checked the dumpster out back, and yep... all of her books were in there. My roommate and her friend had stolen everything in that room in the middle of the night."

"I went straight to the dean. She got at least booted out of the dorms. Don't know if she got kicked out of the college altogether or not, but I still caught hell from the rest of her gang. Fun times."

"Sorry, roomie, not sorry. She made that lovely dorm mom cry."

– ChaoticForkingGood

I Didn't Do It

"My morbidly obese roommate fell in the shower and went through the wall. Sounded like a bomb going off and scared the shit out of me."

"That would be whatever, except a minute later the useless bastard came limping out bleeding and tried to pretend the shower/wall had always been like that. Even when we pointed out he had done the damage, he refused to really acknowledge it."

"Our other roommate was crazy, and refused to get the landlord involved. So, she instead cleaned up the mess and left the hole, saying she'd fix it later herself. When we left (about a year later), she just gorilla glued some cardboard up over the hole and then glued the tiles back on over it."

"I'll admit it actually didn't look terrible. You probably wouldn't notice unless you really looked."

– Broski225

If Only She Could Sleep

"One time I woke to two voices in my college doom room."

"I saw that my roommate had a guy with her in bed. From what I remember, there was kissing but I don't know what else. I had no idea when he got there."

"I didn't know what to do so I just pretended to sleep until they were gone. They finally left close to noon. As they were heading out, the guy goes, "wow, your roommate sure is tired." My roommate: "yeah, she sleeps a lot.""

"Couldn't help but feel a little peeved by that."

– purplealchemist

Duck!

"My roommate threw a meat cleaver at me because I told her I didn't want to talk to her because we were fighting."

– livetimefe

I'd Run

"I moved in with a couple. She was VERY obviously pregnant but denied it. They had 7 pet rats, which I was chill with. Their bed was on the floor so the rats could sleep with them, cool. Whatever you’re into, not for me to judge. The rat poop that was EVERYWHERE in the house was an issue. In the tub, in the wash machine, outside their room in their shoes. My final straw was when I baked 15 DOZEN butter tarts for Xmas gifts cuz I was a broke 20-year-old and they ATE THEM ALL in one evening and that night she went into labour and had the baby she definitely wasn’t pregnant with and demanded I give up the home office I paid extra for each month to do my work from for her new not baby But keep paying for it."

– notanaltaccount88

Yes, roommates are a part of life, but some of these experiences make me glad that part of my life is in the past!

People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.